Do Not Be Afraid
by Shi-Toyu
Summary: In a world where Loki as a Dom who has had to pretend to be a sub all his life, Midgard is refreshing...right up until he finds Tony Stark, who kneels with too much fear for Loki's tastes. FrostIron Dom/sub AU


Do Not Be Afraid

A/N: Inspired by the prompting of the fabulous PeaceHeather

It happened suddenly, instantly. One second things were fine and Loki had him impulses under control and then _he_ was there, crashing to his knees with pupils blown wide in reaction to Loki's Dom presence weighing down the air. The man wasn't wearing a SHIELD uniform like everyone else and had brown hair with an artfully-crafted beard. He was trembling, too, with more than just anticipation. A glowing circle of light could be seen through his tanktop.

Being banished from Asgard with Thor and actually being able to let his Dom orientation out had been liberating for Loki. Never in his life had he felt such freedom. He'd always had to play the submissive to Thor's faked Dominant persona. As Odin had said, no one could know that the realm's crowned prince was not a Dom. For centuries, Loki had suppressed his own instincts. While Thor had to push himself to act as more of a Dominant, Loki was made to kneel and lower his eyes. Here on Midgard, though, no one cared what orientation someone of power held. They did not have the prejudices that existed in the realm eternal. Loki had happily unleashed his restricted self once he'd known he was free to do so, Thor content to fall into the caring hands of Jane Foster. None had reacted like this before, though.

"Wha…"

It was clearly a struggle for the man to speak, his mind slipping quickly into the haze of subdrop. A thrill ran run Loki's spine at the sight, at the way the man's hands reached behind his own back to clasp the opposite wrist and _present_ for Loki. His chest tightened, his heart beating rapidly. Loki had never Dominated someone before, had never had a sub of his own before. He'd never been _allowed_ to. His instincts screamed at him, though, because something was wrong here. He could sense it in the air, could see it in the tension of his sub's shoulders. The man was afraid.

"Mr. Stark?"

Agent Coulson's words jerked Loki back to full awareness. He'd lost sight of the room at large, the lab space they had entered, as soon as the man now on his knees had reacted to Loki's presence and Loki to him. It was like everyone else had vanished. Now the audience came jumping back to existence, each and every one of them having stopped what they were doing to stare at the sub in the center of the room. The man, Stark, was trembling even harder now, his entire body shaking and fear plain on his face. He squeezed his eyes tightly shut against the attention, his mind clearly waring with his body.

Loki reacted on instinct, not even thinking of his actions until he was already across the room and sweeping his sub up into this arms. He cradled the man for only a moment before vanishing them both, taking them someplace far away from prying eyes and witnesses. Loki had not been many places yet on Midgard, but Dr. Foster had shown them much hospitality since their arrival. He trusted her a great deal more than these people from SHIELD who had come out of nowhere. She jumped about a foot in the air when Loki appeared in her lab.

"I need a safe place. Private."

His fellow Dom took one look at the trembling sub in Loki's arms and snapped her gaping mouth shut. She glanced around quickly, clearly taking stock of the spaces available to her. Her slight frown did not improve Loki's mood.

"This way," she said finally, leading him to a door off to one side. "It's not much, just where we store the servers, but it should give you enough space to calm him down."

She held the door open after flipping on the light so that Loki could enter with his precious cargo. The room had towers of some sort of electronics and wires running all around. Other than that, it was completely barren.

"Thank you."

"Is that Tony Stark?"

Loki wasn't sure quite what to tell her.

"It is Stark."

That was, after all, all he knew. Jane seemed somewhat awed.

"Right. Well. Let me know if you need anything."

Loki nodded his thanks as she left them, turning his attention more fully back to his sub. The man was curled into him, clearly taking comfort in his warmth and closeness, but still trembled fiercely. Loki had seen plenty of subs go through subdrop before, even if he had not put one there himself. He could scarcely imagine what experiences one must go through to have this sort of reaction to it.

"Shhhh," he soothed as gently as he could as he settled the sub onto the ground and knelt beside him. "I've got you."

The man whimpered softly. Loki could tell that the man was trying to regain control of himself and the Dom in Loki wanted to do nothing but pour more weight into his presence to force the sub to accept him. He restrained himself, though, refusing to give this man any further reason to fear.

"How-" Stark struggled. "This shouldn't-I can't-Drop-"

His words were stilted, forced out but jumbled. Loki's brow furrowed as he attempted to understand. This drop must have been intense indeed to be so deep as to stand in the way of cohesive sentences.

"You have trouble dropping normally?"

The man shook his head fervently.

"I… _can't_ -anymore."

Loki felt like he'd been slapped across the face. Odin had brought a sub to meet Thor and Loki once, one who no longer was able to enter the tranquil peace of what a subdrop was supposed to be. After the woman had left, scarred and missing most of one of her arms, Odin had told them of the traumas that prevented her from dropping as any other sub would. He'd meant it as a cautionary tale to them, to impress upon them the risks that stood against Thor. Now, as his gaze stood transfixed upon his sub's face, Loki saw the face of that woman in his mind's eye.

It was obvious to any that looked upon her that she had once been beautiful. Her skin, what little of it that had been left intact, was smooth and appeared to be soft. Her lips had been full, her eyes deep and expressive. Scars crisscrossed her features by the time she met the two princes, though, and her shoulders bowed under the weight of the burdens she carried. The only emotions her eyes expressed anymore were pain and weary sadness. Loki knew what had been done to her. His heart twisted at it being done to another, being done to this man in particular.

"You are dropping now."

It was half statement and half question. Loki wished desperately that he had more experience, that he knew what to do in this situation. He had only ever helped Thor with keeping his submissive nature contained. He had no experience handling an actual drop, particularly not one as likely to turn volatile as this.

"I don't-" the sub barely managed to choke out, "know-"

"Alright, that's just fine," Loki hastened to comfort him. "It can wait. We'll discuss it later. For now, just relax, alright? I've got you."

In the absence of experience, Loki yielded to what his instincts demanded of him. He drew the man in closer, covering and shielding him with his own body, pressing them tightly together. He nipped at his sub's ear, jaw, and neck lightly, kissing the skin on the way back up to start over. His hands traveled over every bit of the man's body that he could reach, stroking his thigh, running along his spine, counting each rib along his side by touch alone. For his part, Stark curled into Loki, his trembling slowing to an eventual stop, though his tension did not wholly vanish.

The minutes slipped by with only Loki's soft murmurings of assurances to fill the silence. It was more than an hour before the sub finally gave in to the exhaustion that so clearly plagued him. His muscles eased in tiny increments, barely noticeable at first, until he was slumped against Loki's shoulder. Warm puffs of air ghosted across the prince's throat every time the man exhaled. It was comforting to Loki, a reassurance that the man was alive and with him still. His arms wound around the sub's waist just a bit tighter, possessively. By the Norns, Loki swore in his own mind, he would not allow anything more to happen to this man. Not if he could help it.


End file.
